[Dave Marx]

If you book at the Disney Cruise Line site, you'll get whatever the current price is. Usually, that will be the same prices that travel agents can offer. However, agencies sometimes reserve a block of staterooms at early booking savings, then offer those savings later, when Disney's prices have gone up. If you're looking at 2007 pricing, you probably won't find a lot of special deals yet - they tend to appear later, as reservations become more scarce. If the agency doesn't have a special deal like that to offer, the rates will be the same as Disney's current pricing.

A good agent can enhance your vacation, at no extra cost. I suggest if you want to work with an agent, go with a Disney Specialist agent who at the least has attended the College of Disney Knowledge, and preferably has cruised with Disney several times. You can learn about a bunch of such agents and agencies from folks on these boards. Personally, we've always had very good experiences with MouseEarVacations, which advertises here. AAA is the single biggest seller of Disney vacations (outside of Disney itself). The quality (and education) of the individual agent you work with at AAA will vary, but AAA sometimes comes up with deals nobody else can offer.

Some folks will tell you to look for "Earmarking" as a way of selecting an agent. Note, however, that "Earmarking" is a designation based on the dollar value of the bookings made by the agency. A large, reputable agency can achieve this distinction without a lot of difficulty, but there are also small agencies who have all the expertise and reputation, but are simply too small to sell the amount of vacations needed to be Earmarked.